When it comes to music production, the process can be a little intimidating at first.

It’s easy to second guess yourself about what type of equipment or DAW to get, but the important thing is that you do your research and find what works best for you. Plus, it might help if you know what type of system your favorite DJ uses!

There are a few main DAWS to consider: Ableton Live, Apple Logic Pro X, and FL Studio. Some of the workflow will feel the same, but there are advantages and disadvantages when you compare these across the scale. The best pro tip is to download trial versions and play around with any and all options until you meet your perfect DAW match.

However, to get you started, here are the DAWs some of your favorite artists are using!

Flume’s DAW: Ableton Live

For Flume, working quickly is key and he finds Ableton Live works best when he’s making his stunning, pop-infused electronic beats. His creative process and weirdness comes along quite nicely with the help from Native Instruments Komplete and Kontakt plugins and Guitar Rig software. If these musical tools work for the Grammy-award winning producer, they may work for you too!

Ableton Live is undoubtedly one of the most popular DAW choices among electronic music producers, and Flume stands by the system. He has revealed: “For me I like to work really quickly. Ableton Live, yeah, I’ve been using it for quite some time now.”

Disclosure’s DAW: Apple Logic Pro X

This duo is a truly treasured electronic act that continuously progresses their incredible sound. Instead of getting into the studio solo, Disclosure get to bounce ideas off each other which is a unique production tool in itself. They’ve found Apple Logic Pro X as their go-to program for creating music.

But, running shows live is a different story: “For live we use Ableton on one laptop to run stuff we can’t play, but we try to play as much as we can.”

As far as equipment goes, Akai Professional’s line of launch pads, keyboards, and controllers remain a trusty brand for Disclosure to work on, through their daw and when performing live.

Martin Garrix’s DAW: FL Studio

The #1 DJ in the world probably knows what’s up when it comes to working quickly and efficiently. He’s a hit making machine and for him, FL studio is the bees knees.

But get this — he has to continuously work in multiple versions of the software because he hasn’t pulled all of his synths and samples into the most recent version of the DAW. He also dabbles with Apple Logic sometimes and uses a variety of plugins including Nexus, Sylenth1, Massive and Gross Beat.

Find more about what producers are using which DAWs and equipment here.

It should be noted, many of the producers listed here jump between different DAWs when working on new project and when it comes to getting into the studio vs. playing a live show. Remember: just find what works best for you and run with it.

Ed Sheeran completely smashed the charts with his album ÷ (Divide), and now he’s breaking even more records with a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 re-entry.

As “Perfect” creeps into the top tier yet again, from No. 12 to No. 9, Ed Sheeran makes music history. He’s the only artist to have two singles spend a half year or more within Billboard’s Top 10. With this, “Perfect” spends its 26th week in the top 10 — only the 10th single to ever do so.

“Shape of You” accomplished this same feat, and still holds the record for the most top 10 action at 33 weeks. The leading single from Ed Sheeran’s album Divide is followed by “Closer” by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey and LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live,” both which spent 32 weeks up there.

Ed Sheeran’s ability to control the charts is just one of the reasons he’s such an influential artist. Listen below and be amazed all over again!

Ed Sheeran completely smashed the charts with his album ÷ (Divide), and now he’s breaking even more records with a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 re-entry.

As “Perfect” creeps into the top tier yet again, from No. 12 to No. 9, Ed Sheeran makes music history. He’s the only artist to have two singles spend a half year or more within Billboard’s Top 10. With this, “Perfect” spends its 26th week in the top 10 — only the 10th single to ever do so.

“Shape of You” accomplished this same feat, and still holds the record for the most top 10 action at 33 weeks. The leading single from Ed Sheeran’s album Divide is followed by “Closer” by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey and LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live,” both which spent 32 weeks up there.

Ed Sheeran’s ability to control the charts is just one of the reasons he’s such an influential artist. Listen below and be amazed all over again!

It’s hard to believe that EDC Las Vegas is finally here. Then again, this is the first year that the festival is being held in May, so perhaps it’s not that hard to believe.

Regardless, tens of thousands of people have already begun to descend upon Las Vegas and the strip in preparation of the festival and the city that never sleeps is going to be incredibly wild the next 96 hours or so.

This year at EDC is unique in that the music actually starts on Thursday, thanks to the new camping arrangements on the speedway. Beyond that, the cosmicMEADOW will host opening ceremonies each day, and kineticFIELD will bring about the closing of the festival each night. There are over 200 artists playing the main stages, and at least another 75 on all the art cars combined, making for an exceptionally difficult time choosing who to see and where. We’ve narrowed the lineup down to our top 10 must-see performances of the weekend, but by no means will this list apply to everyone.

Camp EDC Thursday Night

If you’re camping at EDC, you have to be at the kickoff party tonight. Excision, G Jones and Habstrakt will be throwing down from 10pm-3am, and there’s bound to be loads of bass. But more important than that, you’ll be camping with thousands of other people all weekend and you want something to jumpstart the community experience before the festival begins. This is the perfect opportunity to get to know your neighbors, let off some extra energy before the festival, and get all the jitters out. Just don’t go too hard, there’s plenty of music still to come.

In addition, NGHTMRE & Slander just announced a Gud Vibrations set with Wavedash prior to the kickoff party from 8pm-10pm on the Parliament Art Car within the camp!

Joyryde @ kineticFIELD – Day 1 @ 9:25pm

This will be Joyryde’s main stage debut at EDC Las Vegas, and he’s playing right before the opening ceremonies on the first day. If you’re looking to be inspired and get your engine going hot right from the very beginning, this is your best bet.

It’s been a while since Joyryde has dropped any new music, and we’ve been waiting what seems like ages for that Skrillex collaboration to see the light of day, so it’s safe to say you should expect some new IDs from Jonny this time around.

Virtual Self @ circuitGROUNDS – Day 1, 12:00am

Do we really need to say anything about this? Virtual Self makes his EDC debut at the circuitGROUNDS, where you’ll be enveloped on all sides by his intense visual presentation and eerily dark and mysterious soundscape. Bridging modern production with nostalgic arrangements, Virtual Self will be the perfect midnight soirée for all manners of Headliners.

Green Velvet b2b Gorgon City b2b Detlef @ neonGARDEN – Day 2, 4:30am

Simply put: you will never see this b2b again. Ever. What were the talent buyers at Insomniac even thinking putting this masterpiece together? All legends in their own right, these three artists (technically four people) will bring the noise to close out day 2 of the festival at neonGARDEN with an electrifying display of classic and deep house grooves and vibes.

This b2b2b directly follows a 2-hour set from Green Velvet, which itself follows a 90-minute set from Gorgon City. And Detlef plays for 70 minutes earlier in the day. If that isn’t too much house overload for you, then bring it on.

We’re definitely cheating on this one, but come on… that’s a stellar lineup for any single show in its own right, and you’ve got very little reason to leave. Rezz comes back for her second year in a row at the circuitGROUNDS, though this time she’s got a new arsenal of music to unleash. Having already teased collaborations with 1788-L and 13, we can’t see what else she’ll bring to the table.

Eric Prydz is just simply a legend, and, like Virtual Self, you’ll want to be engulfed in his visuals and sound from the moment his set starts to the second it ends.

Coming on right after Prydz is the current #1 DJ in the world, Martin Garrix. He releases new music consistently, but fairly spread apart. His newest release with Loopers, “Game Over,” is sure to a favorite during his set.

Like the Green Velvet b2b Gorgon City b2b Detlef set, this is another b2b2b2b that you will never see again (except maybe on a strange night at Space Yacht). Each of these artists have produced music for Monstercat and are family, so this back to back is sure to be one giant bass clusterfuck – in a good way.

Myro doubles as one of the founders of Disciple Records, on which Modestep, Fox Stevenson, and Eliminate have also all released music. All in all, this is really just one big family get together, and we’re all for it.

Kaskade’s Strobelite Seduction came out 10 years ago this weekend, and he’s celebrating with a once-in-a-lifetime set aboard one of the festival’s many art cars. The album contained Kaskade’s first work with deadmau5, including the hits “Move For Me” and “I Remember.” Watching him play out the full album with some other hits peppered in as the sun rises will be a memorable moment for anyone at the end of the first day.

Dash Berlin (Classics Set) @ quantumVALLEY – Day 1, 1am

This was one of the sets that fans were hoping for most this year at Ultra Music Festival on the final day at the A State Of Trance stage, where Above & Beyond closed things out. Fortunately, Dash Berlin is dropping the classics on the first day at quantumVALLEY so all the trance heads can get their fill early on.

DJ Stephanie b2b Lady Faith @ wasteLAND – Day 1, 1:30am

You might notice by now that there are a LOT of can’t-miss sets on the first day. If that’s something Insomniac did just to drive us mad, then bravo, it’s working. These two are legends in the hard dance world and they’re going back to back for a special late night set at the wasteLAND.

I know it’s looked down upon to point out that these two are indeed women, but let’s not make light of the fact that they’re among a very select group of women playing this festival. They’ve earned the set time and their status as legends in their field, and if you’re a true hard dance fan, you don’t want to miss this.

The Binches are a group of friends who individually have conquered dance music. Kayzo is doing his thing bridging dubstep and hard dance like no one else ever has; Ookay is playing another live set during the festival; Dotcom has a wildly successful project as a puffed sugary treat; and Yultron is bringing the rave back to the masses.

These four together form The Binches, a group of silly individuals with lots of friends who you should expect to make special appearances during their set. The final set of the weekend at cosmicMEADOW, The Binches are going to be very wild, very entertaining, and a perfect end to the festivities.

If you don’t agree with all of our choices, not a problem! We don’t expect you to. You can check out the set times on the app if you haven’t already, which includes the art car set times, or check out the main stage set times below.

Good news, future DJs! You can now learn how to spin as part of your General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) over in the UK.

According to BBC, this has become possible because decks are now recognized as formal instruments by examination boards. That puts your controller or CDJs right up there with a guitar, piano, saxophone — you name it.

Professional DJs and instructors Austen and Scott Smart are behind the course’s DJ curriculum, which students seems to really be connecting with. Some even say, they learn even better while studying other subjects after using DJing as a creative outlet.

Rhythm, timbre, tone, metre, harmony, and other aspects of music theory are tackled in these lessons. No matter how far the future DJs choose to push their careers, they’ll be fully prepared.

Their mission:

FutureDJs is an education business with a large social impact for young people supplying professional visiting DJ and Music Production tutors to schools nationwide (in the same way as traditional instrumental tutors).

Tutors deliver a unique programme of study created by professionals, starting at Key Stage 2 and running through to Key Stage 5, in accordance with the new AQA, OCR and Eduqas GCSE music specifications.

One of the key focuses of the organisation is simply to get more young people into music, and in turn more students taking GCSE and A-Level Music.